Actually, I've heard that the refineries are running out of room to store petroleum products even after all the current scheduled maintanence to convert to summer grade gasoline. In short, inventories are at very high levels.

 

hopefully we can pick one up for invoice in the summer. who knows. I still see people riding around in shiny new Tahoes and Navigaters around here. I don't know if the message has gotten to the average American that conservation will be the key to reducing foreign oil.

I just can not justify buying a Fit Sport for 17,500 after all the taxes and fees. Heck, I could almost buy an Accord for that. I am not a hatch freak. I just want the most bang for the buck. If the Fit stays at MSRP long, I won't stay interested.

People that love hatches probably are already driving Matrix's or Mazda 3's by now anyway. There is a lot to choose from.

 

Lifelong Honda lover here. I was looking at the Fit for the longest time. Was pretty disappointed with the Fit mileage when compared to the Civic, considering it's a pint-size car and has about 20% less horsepower than the redesigned 2006 Civic. After getting weary of waiting, and with a 1999 Civic with 182,000 miles on it that was 100% responsible for my livelihood (a courier business) and looking at a minimum of $1200 in needed repairs and maintenance coming up within the next 6 months, I decided to forget about the Fit. Not enough car, not good enough mileage, and who knows, with demand, if I can even get one soon at all in the color and options I'd want.

So I caved and bought a black '06 Civic coupe LX (loaded up with everything the EX has except fancy wheels and a sunroof) a month ago for $710 below MSRP and NO dealer handling fee. An excellent deal since most dealers are selling these at invoice, plus $300-$400 dealer handling fee. The 140-hp VTech auto transmission takes off from a standstill very nicely, has very decent passing power, holds its own over the Colorado mountain passes and hilly terrain I constantly put her through, has near sportscar-like handling, and I'm averaging 35-37 mpg mixed highway and city driving in the real world. And the new body style is so sporty, it's often mistaken for an Audi. It's the best car on the planet for the price, my opinion. You'll be saving only around $1200 over the Fit, and it's a significantly bigger, more powerful car, and it gets better mileage. Sorry, Fit lovers. I crossed over.

 

Nothing to apologize for, it's your money and your decision...

It is true that the Fit has less horsepower, but it weighs less than the Civic. Real world mileage for the Fit should be similar to Civic mileage; I truly dont believe it will be a dramatic difference.

With regards to the body, I really wouldnt consider it sporty, but that's subjective anyways... The only reason one would mistake a Civic with an Audi is if you had bought the sedan; the taillights resemble those found on an A4.

Also, what do you mean that the Civic is significantly bigger than the Fit? Perhaps the exterior length is, but a comparison of interior space demonstrates otherwise. The specs I see show that the Fit offers more passenger volume, much more cargo volume (with seats up and down), and more headroom.

P.S. It's spelled "VTEC".

 

The new Civics are nice, but totally useless for what I do. I often move odd shaped objects, something the Fit can handle quite nicely. There’s no way that a Civic coupe has as much interior space as the Fit.

If I didn’t need the cargo space, I’d go for the 4 door Civic EX.

 

If it helps at all, the Corolla took back its top slot in Japan from the Fit. Bloomberg says they're manufacturing a Corolla wagon over there as well as a Honda Step Wagon that I wonder if we'll ever see. Now this thing can really hold bicycles!
http://www.vtec.net/news/news-item?news_item_id=357398

Fit sales are slipping as the competition ramps up. If I were in Marketing, I'd be watching the forums to read what people like and don't like about the cars they're comparing -- and especially what makes them buy a specific model.

 

If Honda would sell us a Civic hatchback, I'd buy that in a heartbeat. If I had a bit more money I would be looking at a Mazda5, which is pretty much like the step wagon (and the Dodge Colt Vista for that matter). I'm pretty sure Honda may bring over a civic-based tall wagon the Stream to fill that hole.
It really is tough for me to buy a new car just cuz there are no good used hatchbacks. I might end up buying a $9000 used ECHO or Focus (hatchback, just not good) but I might still get the Fit for safety since it has side airbags and the Focus flunked the side impact test.

 

I wrote to Honda to find out if they would bring over the Honda Air Wave (wagon) from Japan any time soon. Got a call & a letter -- no plans in the works.

 

BTW.., how's that Mazda 5 doing in sales? It was a N.A. gamble to bring it here as a non-minivan for mini-van drivers.